


Ex Machina

by Quillfiend



Series: Omega Squad: The Navori Code [1]
Category: League of Legends
Genre: Cyberpunk, F/M, Omega Squad - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-26 00:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18271844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quillfiend/pseuds/Quillfiend
Summary: The Omega Squad is sent on a mission to Zaun, to deal with a notorious mine and the chem-baron running it.





	Ex Machina

Fizz propelled himself against the flowing stream with one swift kick of his legs, navigating the curved tube without much struggle. Having seen the layout of the sewer system beneath _Brute Haul_ beforehand, he had no trouble finding the main filtration tank. He swam down to the bottom, carefully avoiding the spinning turbines, and took a small package off his rubber belt.

„It's in place,“ he said into his v-com after he pressed the bomb against the glass, „time?“

<Give me a moment,> a hoarse voice answered him, and so Fizz waited. He made sure the explosives were safely mounted on the tank and not slipping.

<Teemo is ready to go,> the device in Fizz's ear buzzed, <one hour. Sixty minutes.>

„That's not a lot of time.“

<We don't need more.>

„You said that last time as well and now Twitch's name is more accurate than ever.“

<Listen, fishfucker - I make the bombs, you obey orders.>

Fizz snorted into his respirator. „Somebody forgot to take his chill pill today.“

He got no answer. Fizz squinted at the timer, then set it to ninety minutes. That should give them plenty time to carry out the task - and be long gone once the _Brute Haul_ turns into the new Zaunite dam.

 

„Professor!“

Veigar looked over his shoulder, then turned around to face the chem-baroness approaching him. A robotic waiter beeped next to him, and he nonchalantly took a cup of synthetic wine from it. He idly tapped his ear to get rid of the echo of Fizz's voice and focused fully on the hall he was in; unlike the little fish man, he wasn't so lucky to be sent on a solitary mission. As the sole member of the Omega Squad with any social skills to speak of, he was forced to keep an eye on the anniversary celebration currently happening in _Brute Haul's_ surface factory.

„Lady Ursylla.“

The baroness waved her long, mechanical arm about, and for a moment Veigar thought she was going to smack him. She didn't, and so he had time to ponder why'd anybody want to have a lifting crane mounted to their shoulder.

„You scoundrel,“ she cried, drawing a whole lot of attention. Veigar grinded his fangs but managed to maintain a charming smile even after the baroness' antics managed to attract a smaller crowd.

„I assure you I'm a proper citizen and nothing else,“ Veigar grinned into his cup and did his best to ignore the gathered sycophants. He did like attention... But not now that it could prove dangerous to him and his task.

„I've heard rumors,“ Ursylla smiled, her goggles flickering with different colors, „that you were... _Encouraged_ to leave the Piltover university deanship board.“

„Slander. I left to pursue my personal projects.“

„Truly?“ somebody asked, though it wasn't the baroness; Veigar looked around to find the source of the new voice, but he only saw chittering crowds and holographic dancer projections all around him, swinging to the beat under the obnoxious flashlights. It took a moment for him to notice a familiar yordle pushing his way through the sweaty and rusty bodies; he frowned.

„Heimerdinger,“ Veigar's tone remained respectful, though it oozed hostility, „and here I was, believing that you thought yourself too good for Zaun.“

„Incorrect,“ the chipper scientist said, „besides, Brute Haul supplies all of our mercury. I could not miss a celebration like this.“ Heimerdinger adjusted his glasses. „My congratulations to the big anniversary, lady Ursylla!“

„Why, thank you,“ the baroness bared her rotting teeth in a crooked smile, „I feel truly blessed to have _two_ Piltover university minds here! A great shame that Vancen could not be here.“

„Your husband?“ Veigar feigned ignorance, „what happened to him?“

„Oh, nothing,“ Ursylla waved her clacking arm, „crowds make him very, _very_ anxious. He enjoys running the mine much more than talking to anybody about it.“

She let out an earpiercing laugh, more akin to a drakalops shriek. Veigar shuddered, his eyes wandering off to the swinging masses around him; it was then that he saw her, a familiar face that disappeared between bodies and machines as quickly as it appeared.

<I'm ready,> a whisper cracked in his ear, and Veigar shook his head. He looked back at the baroness.

„You'll excuse me,“ he mumbled and pushed himself past her and her toadies, lifting a clawed hand to his mouth. The baroness huffed, disappointed, and turned to Heimerdinger to pry more information out of him. Veigar suppressed the urge to go back and prevent his rival from telling Ursylla just how and why he was removed from the university board.

„Proceed,“ he spoke into his own communicator, and Teemo affirmed. They didn't have a whole lot of time before chaos broke loose now, and he had to find _her_ before that...

 

For all its wealth and pretend glamour, Brute Haul was a _horrific_ place. It was the last destination of criminals, inconvenient witnesses and the truly desperate; working in the mine was a slow, painful death sentence, and every ounce of mercury lifted from the stone was tolled with blood. The workers wore barely any protection, and the toxic vapors slowly melted their lungs and drove them mad. Teemo had seen much during the war, but some of the sights he was exposed to down in Brute Haul sent shivers down his spine. Decomposing bodies nobody bothered to remove, miners hurling themselves off the steep ledges, dying wretches trembling in their chains and receiving no help no matter how loudly they called for it.

It was how Teemo envisioned hell.

The workers were oblivious to the suffering of others, but the chem-baron was worst of them all. Vancen Beck loved strutting around the infernal pit and making sure that the laborers were slaving their lives away; kitted in a hazmat suit and accompanied by heavily armed guards, the mercury mine posed no danger to his disgusting self. Or it _wouldn't_ were it not for an assassin stalking his greasy hide.

Hidden beneath a nearby ledge, Teemo knew that his time was coming. The baron was approaching, and he had a dart for him. The assassin took aim and a deep breath.

 

She kept eluding him. Veigar pushed himself through the crowds at an increasing pace, huffing and growling and panting after every fat machinist he needed to squeeze past. He was being led somewhere, he was sure of it; sometimes he saw a flash of her hair, the bracelet he gave her, her servitor drone. She wanted him to follow. _She wanted to be with him._

The smell of city fumes hit his sensitive nose, and the music from the hall grew more distant. The crowd thinned until it was gone entirely, and he found himself on a flickering glass balcony. Diodes were installed into the hexagonal floor panes, changing color with each distant beat. By the railing stood a girl; she watched the bubbling, smoking city beneath, her violet mane rising with every breath of hers.

„A lovely night,“ Veigar stood next to her, finally able to catch a breath, „or it would be anywhere but in Zaun.“

„Cheer up, professor,“ she grinned, „or is that what makes a lovely night - clear skies and clean cities?“

„You do, Lulu.“

„See.“ She turned to him, gently taking his hands. The glass panes lighting her face from beneath gave her an ominous look, though they could never take away the tenderness in her eyes - the care she had for him.

„What are you?“ Veigar broke the silence once again after she forced him to spin with her, „everybody says you do not exist.“

„Don't I exist to you?“ she asked, setting them both into a slow dance tempo. He shook his head.

„Of course. But is it because you are real, or because I'm mad?“

„What do you think?“

He sighed. „Rumble says my brain was damaged during an explosion. That there's a machine splinter pressing against my mind, causing hallucinations.“

She pressed herself closer to him. „Does it matter?“

He flicked his ears, wrapping his arms around her in an intimate embrace. He lifted her then, seating her on the railing. „Sometimes.“

She rested her forehead against his. „Why?“

„I don't want my colleagues to think that I'm crazy.“

„Are you not crazy for me?“

„I am.“

„Then let me be your dream ex machina tonight,“ she whispered and pulled him into a kiss. It was sweet, liberating, sloppy, _brief;_ the v-com in Veigar's ear cracked and whistled, and with a wince he broke his and his lover's embrace.

„What the—?!“ he hissed into his microphone while Lulu played with his fuzzy ears.

<I thought you'd appreciate hearing the dart go,> Teemo sneered, <mark eliminated. Get out of there. Tristana will be landing on the roof in five minutes.>

Veigar hissed and shot a pleading look at Lulu. She laughed and stood up on the railing.

„We'll meet again,“ she said, and before he could stop her with his hands and his cries, she stepped into the clouded air of Zaun. She disappeared in the smoke below; Veigar clenched the railing, leaning over it and trying to spot her. Did she survive that? How could she?

The v-com buzzing in his ear reminded him of his mission again, and that he needed to get out of there as soon as possible. He turned around and stomped back into the crowded hall, this time headed for the iron stairs at the far end of it. People tried to stop him, hollering his name and asking questions, but Veigar had no time or will to answer anybody. Soon, everybody was going to know about the death of Vancen Beck and he couldn't risk being associated with it in any way.

 

„You think he's coming?“ Fizz asked, removing the mask of his rubber suit and taking a breath of fresh - or _relatively fresh_ \- air. Teemo leaned against the roof elevator and looked up at the sky; something big appeared between the smoke clouds, slowly descending towards them. The propellers of Tristana's helicopter were hardly quiet or subtle, but that didn't matter here, not when they were surrounded by roaring factions.

„Relax,“ the assassin rubbed his hands and patted the blowgun at his hip, „he's probably just fantasizing about that femme fatale of his.“

„He's weird, that's what he is. Why do we need nerds on the team again?“

„I can't exactly make a bomb,“ Teemo took out a packet of gum, „and neither can you.“

„It can't be that hard.“

„Oh yes, that reminds me—„

„Not another war story, please.“

„—of how me and the boys got stuck in a trench between two Noxian platoons,“ Teemo went on, ignoring Fizz's whining and pained stares, „the only way out was through death... Or them. So Ziggs is like, hey dudes, anybody's got some matches and a flask of whisky? Absolute madman. Anyway—„

The elevator behind Teemo hummed and whirred, and both of the yordles turned to watch their complice stepping out of it. He seemed a little sullen, a little downtrodden, as if his rendez-vous with his little made up girlfriend didn't go so well.

„Thank Nagakabouros,“ Fizz breathed a sigh of relief, „you saved me.“

„Oh really?“ Veigar growled and looked at the helicopter just landing on the roof. A familiar girl in a red beret peeked out of the cockpit, waving at them.

„How'd it go, boys?“ Tristana yelled over the propeller noise; Veigar neatened his collar and set out towards the chopper, followed by Teemo and Fizz. As soon as they got inside, something rumbled deep beneath them, and the music in the hall below turned into discord. The charge must've gone off, and the mine was filling with water and refuse just about now.

„Today marks a special occassion,“ Teemo pecked the pilot girl's cheek, took a pulse rifle from underneath his seat and threw it to Veigar, „we're doing a good deed by killing people _and_ we're getting paid for it.“

„Heaven's waiting, baby,“ Tristana chirped and pulled the helicopter back up into the air. Veigar took aim at the elevator on the roof, and as soon as the metal doors opened again, he pulled the trigger. The pulse tore his victim apart and painted the iron chamber with blood; somebody screamed. Veigar pouted when he saw that his victim was just one of the many kids trying to escape the factory.

„Shit.“

„Expected somebody else?“

„Kind of,“ he swung the rifle over his shoulder and let Fizz pull the heavy door closed, „I guess this time I was smarter than Heimerdinger.“

 


End file.
